Detector Characterization for Advanced LIGO

<p>The first observing run of Advanced LIGO spanned 4 months, from September</p> <p>12, 2015 to January 19, 2016, during which gravitational waves were directly detected</p> <p>from two binary black hole systems, namely GW150914 and GW151226. Confident</p> <p>detection of gravitational waves requires an understanding of instrumental noise transients</p> <p>and artifacts that can reduce the sensitivity of a search for gravitational waves.</p> <p>Studies of the quality of the detector data yield insights into the cause of instrumental</p> <p>artifacts and data quality vetoes specific to a search are produced to mitigate the</p> <p>effects of problematic data.</p> <p>This dissertation provides an overview of the methods used to characterize noise</p> <p>in the LIGO interferometers and provides examples of successful removal of transient</p> <p>noise. The data set used in the first observing run is validated. Further, the systematic</p> <p>removal of noisy data from analysis time is shown to improve the sensitivity of searches</p> <p>for compact binary coalescences. The output of the PyCBC pipeline is used as a</p> <p>metric for improvement.</p> <p>The first direct detection of gravitational waves, GW150914, was a loud enough</p> <p>signal that removing data with excess noise did not improve its significance. However,</p> <p>the removal of data with excess noise decreased the false alarm rate of GW151226 by</p> <p>a factor of 567, from 1 in 320 years (3.9 σ) to 1 in 183000 years (> 5.3 σ).</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physics

Year

2016

Author dc:creator

• Massinger, Thomas James

Contributors dc:contributor

• Peter R. Saulson
• Howard Blair

• Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Repository record dc:identifier

https://surface.syr.edu/etd/633

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:surface.syr.edu:etd-1633